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tunnel syndrome

I have been having a blast making these rainbow DNA keychains. I spent a lot of money on the materials, and I spend a couple of hours making just one keychain, not because I feel that I have to, but because it’s fun. I decided that I should probably sell them on Etsy because if I don’t, I’m going to have the biggest keychain collection of all time if I didn’t get rid of them lol.

I wasn’t sure what I should charge for them, so I browsed other people’s lanyard keychains and finally came up with $4 for the keychain and $1 for shipping, but after I shipped the first order out today, I ended up with less than $2. The reason being, the padded envelopes were $1.50 and the shipping was $1.67. That brings my profit down to $1.83. So I’m not actually getting $4 for the keychains. I decided that I’m going to keep them at $4, but just raise the shipping to $3.50 just because I want to use those profits to buy more material to make more keychains.

Of course I don’t know if anyone else will buy a keychain or if this one sale was my first and last, but I don’t care because I don’t want to stop making them. It’s too much fun for me.

I am currently still working on the rainbow keychains, I made 3 yesterday and I still have enough material to make 12 more. After that, I’m going to buy some white and blue and more of the clear so that I can make some patriotic ones. I already have a big roll of the red. July is coming and people love to be patriotic, so I figure they will probably buy the patriotic ones. Of course that’s a crap shoot, but it’s still going to be fun to make even if nobody buys them.

Who knows how long I will be able to continue making them before my hands just give up on me. After all, I do have carpel tunnel syndrome. I think that’s why I would like to get more money for them, not just the time that it takes to make them, but also for the pain that it will eventually cause me.

I would also like to make some trans colors and some bear colors. I think someone out there would like to have one of those. Of course if I have the materials, I would take requests for specific colors. I don’t just know the DNA pattern, I just love that one compared to any other I’ve seen. I hope other people do too. 🙂

I’ve been quite the busy little bee lately. I decided that I wanted to start making lanyard keychains, but then a friend told me that I could make other patterns, not just the square and the round, but more intricate. She sent me to Laneyards on YouTube where I learned how to expand my horizons by making this complicated DNA strand pattern. I went a bit further though, instead of just making it with the clear and color, I decided that I wanted to make one of each in the rainbow colors (purple is not in picture, but it is on Etsy), so I went shopping and found the translucent (which by the way makes it even more difficult to make) and I found the gold and the pink (which isn’t for sale yet). But then I made one with all of the rainbow colors which I never in a million years thought I’d be able to do.

So what the heck am I supposed to do with all of these keychains? People are suggesting to me on Facebook that I should sell them on Etsy, so that is what I have done. I opened up a store called GayNerd. I didn’t just come up with a price on the spot, I did some research and found that people were selling the DNA strand keychains made out of paracord for $8, although as I type this some of them have them for $1.50 to $5. There are some DNA keychains made out of hemp as well for around the same low price. I decided on $4 for the colors, $5 for the rainbow and $5 for the gold.

The rainbow one is really hard to make and takes a long time and these keychains are probably going to ruin my already messed up hands (carpel tunnel syndrome), so that’s why they are that much. Also the gold is $5 because it’s not cheap at Michael’s. I figured the colors are inexpensive to buy, but still a long time to make and they are hard to count because of how clear they are.

I’m not expecting anyone to buy these, I am just having fun making something neat out of nothing. Who knows, I might get out of the DNA phase and move on to something even more complicated. I like a good challenge. And even if these keychains are mine forever, sitting on my desk collecting dust, at least I know that I had fun making them and it was a learning experience for me.

If I never sell them, well, let’s just say you can expect to see me on Hoarders in a couple of years LOL.